Bloodbond

Chapter 13

Five hours later, I had finished Sense and Sensibility and was searching for another book to ease my boredom. It was already nearly seven and I was getting hungry. I was considering the merits of going to grab something to eat when I heard several voices coming from the hall. I put down the book and headed out to investigate the source of the noise.

When I opened the door, I saw Gabriel standing with the men from earlier. It appeared that they were just finishing things up and saying their good byes. As the men passed me by, most gave me a smile or nodded their heads in acknowledgement. There was one, however, who shot me a near death glare. It was the man I'd seen Gabriel arguing with from before. What the hell was his problem? I'd never met him in my life, so why was he so pissed? Whatever. I didn't need to deal with him and his PMSing right now.

Gabriel had noticed me standing by the study door but he chose to ignore it. Instead, he watched as the men left and then he turned to go back into the room they had just vacated. Oh, I don't think so, buddy. You were going to talk to me whether you liked it or not.

I crossed the hall to the room Gabriel had gone into, not even bothering to knock because I knew that he would either ignore me or tell me to go away.

As soon as I walked in, Gabriel looked up from the desk he was sitting at and gave me his famous scowl. It didn't even phase me.

"I'm busy," he said from between gritted teeth. Yep. Wolfy was really mad at me. Well, we're just going to have to change that, aren't we?

"We need to talk."

"Is that so? Well, it will have to wait. As I said before, I'm busy." He looked back down at some papers he had spread out on his desk.

"No. We need to talk, now," I stated with authority.

Gabriel looked up and we had a staredown. These last few days, I'd found that I was too tired, scared, and worked up to worry about being shy. I was actually quite proud of myself. Everything that was happening was forcing me to step out of my comfort zone and it made me feel a tiny bit grateful for it all. But only a tiny bit.

Before, I would have found it difficult to meet Gabriel's stare without my insides shuddering. Now, it was nothing and I planned on keeping it up until he relented and did what I asked.

After a few minutes of our little battle, Gabriel sighed in frustration. Score one for Cassia!

"What the hell do you want?" His voice was brimming with disdain and I felt my temper rise. I walked over and stood in front of his desk, his gaze on me the whole time.

"First of all, I don't know who you think you are, but you will not talk to me like that. I have done nothing to you and I deserve your respect." Gabriel snorted.

"Respect? I don't think so. Respect is earned and you've done nothing to earn mine. Quite the opposite, in fact. Now, if you don't mind," he inclined his head towards the door, essentially dismissing me. That was seriously not going to happen.

"This discussion is far from over, Gabriel. I don't know what has you so worked up concerning me, but that's what I'm here to find out."

"I'm sure there are others who would gladly welcome your company, but I'm not one of them. Try Taran. I'm sure he'd love that," he said snarkily. Oh, that little...

"I knew it!" I yelled, causing Gabriel to jerk his head back up to look at me in confusion.

"You're jealous." I sounded triumphant. It was a nice feeling.

"I beg your pardon? What do I have to be jealous about?"

"You're jealous of Taran."

He scoffed at my words. "You're sadly mistaken, Cassia."